MacBook for College

My sister is going into international studies or something like that and my parents are buying her a MacBook. Shes hired me (not actually hired ) to spec it for her. She wants a white one like mine. The specs I'm looking at are:

Thats almost definitely adequate for what she would need. Extra HD space is always good but 160gb is a decent amount any more ram than 2gb for that notebook would be overkill.
Look at refurbished notebooks from the apple store. They are always a good buy.

Thats almost definitely adequate for what she would need. Extra HD space is always good but 160gb is a decent amount any more ram than 2gb for that notebook would be overkill.
Look at refurbished notebooks from the apple store. They are always a good buy.

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I looked at the refurbs but she wants a white one really badly and it needs to be ordered ASAP.. there aren't any white ones in the refurb store right now.

Not to mention that she thinks that refurbs are crap even though mine was refurbished -.-

Thanks for all the input guys. Can anyone tell me if the back to school promo is still on? Can I get the iPod Touch + Printer (with mail-in rebate) online?

I looked at the refurbs but she wants a white one really badly and it needs to be ordered ASAP.. there aren't any white ones in the refurb store right now.

Not to mention that she thinks that refurbs are crap even though mine was refurbished -.-

Thanks for all the input guys. Can anyone tell me if the back to school promo is still on? Can I get the iPod Touch + Printer (with mail-in rebate) online?

Click to expand...

I'd say just get a new base white MacBook. Like others have said, you can always upgrade RAM to 3 or 4 GB later. Hard drive as well. The "free" iPod touch and printer deal is still on. You actually don't have to get an iPod touch. What they do is give you back $229 in a rebate you must do online. Make double sure you do it though. It comes in extremely fastusually 2 days. But if you don't you could be waiting around for weeks wondering where your money is. So you could get a touch, nano, or classic. I got an iPod classic though. It's like I only paid $20 for it.

Depending on the program, she might have to do some number-crunching (some poli sci/IR departments are quant-heavy). PASW (nee SPSS) suggests 1+ GB of RAM, so that configuration should work for her. The free iPod Touch promo is still going on in the US. I don't know about Canada (of course, if she's enrolled in a US university, she'd qualify for the program).

Yes it would work and the ipod promotion is still going on. However i would almost just go for the base 13" macbook pro. It is only 150 more, there is a slight bump in processor speed, ddr3 ram instead of ddr2. And a much better screen. Although the specs arent much better, i think the difference lies in the build quality.

I have a macbook pro(it is almost 3 years old now) it is still running strong and have never really had a problem with it. My mom has a white macbook and the top case cracked where the lid makes contact with it and has some discoloration issues. They may have fixed these issues, but i still think for the $150 difference the macbook pro has the potential to last you longer than than the regular macbook

Yes it would work and the ipod promotion is still going on. However i would almost just go for the base 13" macbook pro. It is only 150 more, there is a slight bump in processor speed, ddr3 ram instead of ddr2. And a much better screen. Although the specs arent much better, i think the difference lies in the build quality.

I have a macbook pro(it is almost 3 years old now) it is still running strong and have never really had a problem with it. My mom has a white macbook and the top case cracked where the lid makes contact with it and has some discoloration issues. They may have fixed these issues, but i still think for the $150 difference the macbook pro has the potential to last you longer than than the regular macbook

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